Example embodiments of the inventive concept relate to systems and methods of treating a substrate, and in particular, to systems and methods of treating a substrate using plasma.
Gas is ionized under high temperature environment, strong electric field, or a radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic field to form plasma including ions, electrons, and radicals. A process of fabricating a semiconductor device includes a plasma etching step. For example, a substrate or a layer formed on the substrate is etched through physical collision or chemical reaction with ionic particles contained plasma.
The etching process is performed in a process chamber. In detail, plasma is generated by supplying a process gas into a process chamber and then applying RF power to the process chamber to excite the process gas. Here, the process gas is supplied into the process chamber through center or side nozzles respectively provided at a center region of a top cover of the process chamber and at a sidewall of the process chamber. The process gas supplied through the center nozzle is mainly used to etch a center region of a substrate, whereas the process gas supplied through the side nozzle is mainly used to etch an edge region of the substrate. However, an exhaust port is provided between the process chamber and a supporting plate for supporting the substrate, and thus, a sizable amount of the process gas supplied through the side nozzle is not supplied to the edge region of the substrate and is discharged to the outside through the exhaust port; that is, there may be a great loss of the supplied process gas.
In addition, various side rings enclosing the supporting plate are provided in a substrate treating system. However, by-products may be produced in a substrate treating process and may be piled in a space between the supporting plate and the side ring. The by-products may serve as particles, causing process failures in a subsequent substrate treating process.